Chapter 4 - Deer Behavior: Deer Movements

If you’ve ever heard deer hunters discuss home ranges of deer, most often you’ll hear them say “a buck lives in a square mile area”, or 640 acres.  While that’s an oversimplification, scientific studies on buck movements have reported home ranges anywhere from 300 acres to over 10,000 acres.  Along the Missouri River in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa where Greg studied movements of radio-collared deer, the average annual home range for bucks was 1,200 acres (about 2 square miles).  Buck summer home ranges averaged 650 acres and fall home ranges almost doubled to 1,150 acres.   The average summer core area size was 160 acres and fall core areas were 286 acres. 

Before we dive into seasonal movements, let’s talk about the basic social structure of deer.  Bucks and does live separately throughout the year, except during the breeding season.  Obviously, there are times when you see mixed groups of deer feeding in large, open fields or when food sources are highly concentrated.  Even so, social interaction between bucks and does is limited outside of the rut.  Does tend to live in family groups that usually consist of a matriarch doe, her fawns from that year, and her female offspring from previous years.  Bucks usually form into “bachelor groups” of 2-8 similar-aged individuals during the spring and summer.  If you ever have the opportunity to see a large bachelor group of mature bucks it is truly a sight to behold!  Yearling bucks may join older age-class groups, but typically associate with other yearling bucks. 

At this time of year deer are the most evenly distributed across the landscape.  Adult bucks tend to live in separate groups and in separate areas from does.  Available food and cover is at its peak and deer home ranges are, on average, smallest at this time of year.  Bucks of all age classes can regularly be seen feeding in open fields, usually well before dark.  It seems as if it should a piece of cake to arrow a buck early in the season based on what you see during the summer.  But here’s something to consider: often times a buck’s summer and fall home range are quite different, and in some cases they don’t even overlap.  This means summer bucks are often bedding in spots that they won’t be bedding in during the hunting season.  Summer bucks tend to bed closer to primary food sources (often soybeans and alfalfa in ag country) and they don’t move far, because they don’t have to.  They also tend to avoid higher stem density cover to protect their sensitive velvet-covered antlers. 

 

 

Seasonal Movements: Fall

Autumn is a time of transition in the whitetail world.  For does and fawns much is the same, their focus is on feeding and storing fat for the winter.  For bucks, however, their behavior is changing noticeably.  By mid-September their testosterone levels continue to increase and they become more aggressive towards each other and their summer bachelor groups break up.    Also at this time, food sources are changing rapidly as some become less palatable (think soybeans, for example) and others are just becoming available (such as acorns).  This phase of the season is when bucks move into their fall home ranges.  This shift is the reason why so many hunters are left disappointed when the bucks they’ve been watching all summer seemingly disappear just as hunting season opens.    

Greg’s research on buck movements found that the average distance between the center of summer and fall core areas was about .33 miles.   The shift happened annually right around early to mid-September as bucks are coming out of velvet.  For some it was a gradual movement and for others it happened almost overnight.  The majority of bucks had at least some overlap in their summer and fall home ranges, but some bucks had no overlap and essentially lived in completely different areas during the fall.  So going back to those summer bucks you always see feeding in open fields - chances are the by mid-September to October their core area is going to be 1/4 to 1/2 mile or more from where it was in July and August.  Some hunters report bucks moving a mile between summer and fall ranges!

 So what are bucks looking for in fall habitat?  Generally speaking, the radio-collared bucks in Greg’s study shifted from bedding in more open areas close to food sources to deeper into sources of thick, permanent cover.  The best fall buck habitat is going to be areas of thick, diverse cover near fall food sources where there is little to no human pressure.  The good thing about the fall shift is that as bucks settle into their new core areas fresh rubbing and scraping sign will help you know where a buck is living at that moment…hot sign, as we like to call it.  Most early season rubs are made on smaller trees, whereas later in October is when you start to see the larger sign post rubs and more frequent and aggressive scraping occur.

The first two weeks of October is when a lot of archery deer seasons open and bowhunters are hitting the woods.  It can be a challenging time to hunt.  With changing food sources and a sudden increase in pressure many hunters lament that it seems as if mature bucks don’t move at all during daylight hours, they’ve gone completely “nocturnal”.   This phenomenon is often referred to as the “October lull”.  A lot of archers experience this because they’re hunting for mature bucks on or close to field edges, where a buck is unlikely to make it until well after dark.  Mature bucks do spend time on their feet during hunting hours, however, it is going to be close to their bedding area.  If a buck is bedding 500-800 yards from a major food source you’re going to have a hard time seeing him if you’re hunting close to field edges.  You have to be willing to adapt your strategies to be consistently successful during this time frame.  You have to hunt the bucks where they are on their feet during daylight.  We’ve found this to actually be one of the best time frames to harvest a mature buck on public land.  Aaron’s October buck from 2020 is a prime example of this. You can watch the hunt breakdown here.

From mid to late-October is often referred to as the pre-rut.  During this phase bucks are becoming increasingly aggressive and move more, especially on high-pressure cold front days.  Rubbing and scraping intensity increases and peaks around the end of October and the first few days of November.   Young bucks will often be seen harassing and chasing does, even though they are still a couple weeks out from being in heat.  We spend a lot of time scouting and looking for hot sign during this phase.  It can be one the best times to target and hunt a mature buck before he begins cruising more widely throughout his range in search of does.  It’s also just prior to a noticeable uptick in hunting pressure when most bowhunters take their “rut vacation” in the first couple weeks of November.  The increase in rut sign can help you narrow down where a buck is living.  A tactic that works well is hunting fresh scrapes close to a buck’s bedding area.  During this phase, especially towards the latter part of October, calling and decoying can also be very effective.  We’ll discus this tactic more in Chapter 7.  

The first ten days of November is commonly referred to as the “seeking” phase of the rut and is marked by increased activity of bucks looking for the first does that are coming into heat. 

Mature bucks become increasingly daylight active and move farther to determine the location of does.  This “cruising” behavior means that hunting close to doe bedding areas and along terrain features that funnel buck movement can be effective tactics.  Calling and decoying, especially in open areas where bucks can see a long ways continues to be a deadly strategy as well.   As bucks find the first few estrous does the woods can become chaotic a place with chasing and fighting.  A lot of hunters think of this as the “peak” of the rut because of the frequency and intensity of rutting behavior, but the actual “peak breeding” is still yet to come. 

The middle part of November is the actual “peak breeding phase”.  Around November 15th, give or take a couple days, is when the maximum number of does are in estrous and is when the majority of breeding takes place.  During this phase bucks are preoccupied with tending and breeding does.  When a buck finds a receptive doe he usually tries to move her away from concentrations of deer into more secluded areas as he defends and breeds her over the course of 24-48 hours.  This is often referred to as the “lock-down” phase, which many hunters feel is a difficult time to harvest a buck because it seems as if they are simply no longer moving.  This could be because a lot of hunters are focusing on the same spots they’ve been hunting all through November.  While those spots can still definitely pay off, we’ve found that we consistently find and harvest more mature bucks during this phase by being mobile (by foot or by vehicle) and concentrating on areas where a buck will push a hot doe into.  Those kinds of locations are usually fringe habitat that have some kind of barrier that a buck can push a doe against where he has one less side he has to defend.    The best spots we’ve found are rivers, lakes, or brushy fence rows right next to a county road or highway.  Again, being mobile and adaptable is the key. 

While the intensity doesn’t match the first 10 days of November, the last 10 days of the month can still be excellent hunting.  During this time there are usually less hunters on the landscape and bucks are still out searching for remaining does that’ve yet to be bred.  GPS movement studies have shown that bucks may make long distance excursions into new areas to search out remaining estrous does, but typically return with 12-24 hours.  As far as tactics, the same strategies we used during the first 10 days can be very effective again.  Here is a perfect example of how focusing on a known doe bedding area paid off for Greg during a late November hunt.

 

It’s also still a good time to use calls and decoys.  One of the biggest-bodied bucks Greg ever shot was rattled in a decoyed on a November 29th evening hunt.  The very next day, from the same stand, Greg filmed his brother Matt shoot a buck over the decoy.   

As November comes to a close breeding activities decline with each passing day.  The “post rut” phase through the end of the hunting season will see bucks largely returning to normal bedding and feeding patterns as they have exhausted themselves during the last several weeks.   For those hunting private land or relatively unpressured areas, focusing on primary food sources (such as corn, beans, or brassicas) can be an effective tactic, especially during cold weather.  Early December can still be worthwhile hunting close to bedding areas.  One of the best hunts Greg and his brother ever had was on December 9th, 2005.  They snuck into a thick bedding area on public land during a two day muzzleloader hunt and watched deer activity all day long, including bucks cruising and chasing.  Around mid-morning a nice 10 pointer came by but didn’t present a clear shot.  Four hours later, the same buck came back through and Matt made an easy 15 yard shot with the smokepole.

Greg's brother, Matt, with his public land muzzleloader buck.

During the late season deer will seek thick security cover and in cases of extreme cold weather prefer thermal cover (cedars, pine, hemlock, tall stands of grasses) that provides protection from the elements.   Food is the primary motivator once again.  To be successful, scouting continues to play an important role.  In pressured areas, deer may use agricultural fields to feed in, but often after the cover of dark.  We’ve found that natural food sources, such as locust pods or duck potato plant, for example, that are adjacent to thick cover can provide excellent hunting.  Deer will often hit these food sources near security cover during daylight before heading to destination fields as dark approaches.  If you can find those hot food sources close to bedding cover and get in close without spooking deer it can make for excellent late season hunting.  Here are a couple of hunts that show that exact scenario. 

It’s a lot of information to take in, but the more you learn about deer behavior, you can use that knowledge to anticipate movement and behavioral changes and adjust your tactics to give yourself the edge.